RVing Virtual Assistant

Email is one of those things that easily gets out of control. And since I'm a pack rat at heart, this has always presented a great problem for me. But I like email for two big reasons:

It gives me a tracking record with clients, friends, organizations, etc., so that I can go back and see what has been done and what needs to be done.

I waste less time per email then I do on a phone call used for the same purpose. Even a lengthy email will be finished more quickly then a phone call where so-called pleasantries end up being exchanged.

Spam goes hand-in-hand with email and that drives me nuts too. Someone said it's the "electronic version of junk mail." Well that fits --- seems to be most of what I get in my REAL mailbox too --- and I always visit the trash can on my way in the house. Although you can't eliminate spam --- you can reduce it. But I've worked out some methods for handling email that seem to be working and I decided to share those with you today.

Use more than one email address. I have different email addresses for the various things for which I use email. Lately I've gone to GMail (www.gmail.com) because they offer lots of space and they group the emails by "threads". So as long as the other party and I communicate using the same original email, when I open that email I can have access to every email that has been part of that discussion. Makes things quicker for me in the long run. Also, since I can visit GMail from any computer, I have quick access to my emails at any time. You could also get accounts at MSN or YAHOO. I have email accounts for many different purposes. Below are some of the more generic:

Shopping - By getting an email address at one of the free locations, you will only need to use this account when you have ordered something and are looking for a confirmation. Since frequently places where you shop put you on their emailing lists, you will generally end up with a lot of spam in this email account. If you have no outstanding orders, you can quickly go in and zap ALL the emails in that account without having to bother reading them --- unless you have a particular place that you might get interesting offers from. If the spam gets too heavy --- dump the account and open another. Works really well to keep spam out of your main email boxes.

Newsletters - Newsletters can be a distraction. You see them and you want to read them --- even if you are working on a rush job and shouldn't be reading that stuff. So get a separate email account that you use ONLY for newsletters. Then some rainy (snowy or sick) day when you don't feel like doing anything else, grab a cup of tea or coffee and catch up on your reading. That way you will have time to make notes on your calendar of things you may be interested in and you can delete the email on the spot.

Personal- Keep your personal email address personal. And I mean REAL friends --- not just sometime acquaintances who forward every joke that comes along. Generally you will use your permanent email address for this. Here again, I've gone to using a free account online because then if you change internet providers you don't have to notify everyone in the world of your new email address. When you feel like catching up on correspondence, you can spent some time checking out and responding to personal email in this account.

Business- This should be the account that you check frequently throughout the day so that you make sure you are responding to your customers' needs in a timely fashion. Be forewarned --- do NOT use your business email when you go shopping because you WILL be spammed. And once the spam circuit gets your business email in their web, you will most likely never get rid of the spam which flows to it. Since it's generally difficult to change one's business email, it's best to keep it sacrosanct from all but business colleagues and clients.

Email account names can be as confusing as anything else. Since I try to use the same email provider for each account, I try to name my account something that reminds me of the purpose for that email account. For instance, for gardening things I use something like "garden789@xxxxxx.com." This tells me that it is my gardening account.

Usernames and passwords have become the bane of my existence. Everyone from the bank to the grocery store seems to require some kind of username and password, and they all have different criteria. Keeping track of all those passwords became a fulltime job at one point in my life. Then I discovered a relatively simple way of handling things: I use the same username and password most everywhere. The trick was to find a password that would meet a wide variety of criteria. I find most places want at least 7 digits. Some want a mixture of alpha and numbers. So, I replaced one letter in the word with an appropriate number: lower case L becomes a numeric 1; lower case O becomes a numberic zero. Add to that a couple of numbers at the end of the name.

At first I hated it when my name was taken and they wanted me to use numbers after the name. Then I discovered (quite by accident) that the accounts with numbers at the end seldom got spam! I think it's the nature of the systems that the spammers use --- they may guess the names, but not the numbers at the end. Try it --- might work for you too.

Take the auto responders off your email accounts. When I started a business website we had a link from the website to a special email account. I set up an auto responder on that saying this was a computer generated response and they would hear from someone within 24 hours. I suggested they call if they needed my services sooner. The interesting thing I found was that the auto responder messages were always returned as undeliverable. And after a few of those messages came back at me, suddenly I was swamped by spam. Obviously people had visited the website and "harvested" the email address (which spammers do) and once they got the auto responder message their system knew it was a valid email and they just started shoving the spam to this email address. I emptied the account and dropped the auto response. It took a while, but the spam slowed down, so this proved my point. If you have a special email account like this for your business, you can generally set it up to forward all messages to another of your accounts which you check regularly. That way you don't have to give out your "good" email address to the public on your website, but it cuts down on the accounts you have to check frequently.

In a related topic, do not respond to spam messages or use the links contained in them. As noted above, spam relies on certain methods of generating email addresses and finding out which ones are active. They try variations of email addresses at certain domains and will often contain messages saying you can click or reply to "unsubscribe." Resist the urge to do so. All this will do is allow them to verify that your address is valid. Rarely, if ever, will it get you removed from their list of "gullible parties."

Almost anything you sign up for (including newsletters) will give you the option of receiving mail from them about other products and services. If you do not DE-select these, you WILL receive lots of mail ---- most of it not stuff that you really want. So make sure that whenever you sign up for anything, either DE-select or do NOT select the additional options they offer --- unless, of course, you lead a boring life and want a mailbox full of special offers and junk mail.

If you use Outlook, disable the automatic downloading of graphics in HTML mail.A large number of today's spammers have gone highly technical. They send HTML mail with a linked graphic file that tracks when an email message is opened. When your software downloads the graphic from the web server that message advises the spammer and they know your email address is valid. If you view all email in plain text, if avoids those problems and problems often associated with virus delivery too.

Perhaps this doesn't fit here, but I'll assume you're as gullible as the next soul. Always watch for hoaxes and frauds. And yes, the Nigerian Bank Scam is alive and well and has hit the email world with a vengeance. So have the various charitable contribution scams, the sick children hoaxes and a million other fraudulent games that have been unloaded on unsuspecting individuals. My favorite is that if you send this email to 15 people some huge mega corporation will give the child money for medical equipment, etc. It's not going to happen --- tracking forwarded email is not possible. Before you forward something like this STOP! Run it through the Google or Yahoo Search Engines and see what comes up. Check it out on Snopes (www.snopes.com) or Hoaxbusters, Symantec's Hoax Page or Urban Legends. You could spend a whole evening just reading THEIR web pages. Interesting stuff is found there.

Now, the next question is one I hear all the time --- what do I do with emails that I'm interested in? There are several possible solutions. You can set up relevant folders in your email client and move the email to the appropriate account. That works, to a point --- but someday you'll have to clean those files out. You can print them out on paper --- that's a messy solution ---- and it requires more waste of paper and is frequently frustrating when you can't find the one you want. Besides, you need space in which to file them.

I've found the easiest solution --- I print them as PDFs to a file on my computer. You can either send them to an appropriate topic file or to a general "email" file. Then you can delete them from your Inbox. At some point, as necessary or prudent, you can burn those PDFs to a CDrom. I can hear many of you now --- "I'm technically challenged and don't know how to make PDFs." Well, child, I've got the perfect thing for you --- it's a program called "Cute PDF" and I --- and many of my clients --- have used it for years. It's shareware, so it's free. You go to www.cutepdf.com and down load the 2 files necessary to run the program. Install them and you are up and running in no time. The next time you see a web page or an email that you want to save, press "Print" and the print window will open; change your Printer to "CutePDF Writer"; hit the "OK" button. It will act like it's going to print to your printer, but in a moment a box will open up and ask where you want the item saved. Make sure you give it a name that will make it readily identifiable when you go looking for it a year from now!

Today's Assignment: Go have fun cleaning up your email accounts and make some new ones for future use!!

It's tax time again! Bet you didn't need to hear that --- guess it's on my mind because I've spent several weeks entering a year's worth of accounting into QuickBooks for a new client. She's an extremely busy consultant who lost her right-hand helper more than a year ago and hadn't had time to find a replacement. We have jointly slogged through not only her professional bookkeeping, but the bookkeeping for her family and for a rental property that she and her husband own. As I've told her several times, from here on out it will be easier as we doing the books on a weekly basis. And that is the first principle of organization: It's easier to do small amounts frequently than it is to do huge amounts once a year!

The good news is you still have a chance to keep that New Year's resolution you made that this was the year to get organized! After all, it's only March and you have to sort through stuff before you do your taxes anyway. Might as well work a little bit of organization into the project.

Psychologically and emotionally, being organized is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. It makes us feel good when we can walk into a place, find exactly what we need when we need it, and get where we need to be on time without breaking a sweat. When I was growing up we lived with my grandparents. We had one bedroom in the back of the house which functioned as a 50's version of a recreation room. It was the only room where my brother and I could make a mess without receiving a lecture from my Grandmother.

In later years my Mother and I often laughed over Grandma's Victorian attitudes about every aspect of daily life --- she would definitely be consider a candidate for OCD in today's atmosphere. With Grandma everything not only ran on a schedule, it was was done in a very precise way. No tossing a wet towel over the shower curtain to dry, or cluttering the dining room table (which was used for eating twice a day) with today's mail, school books, car keys, etc. Breakfast was served promptly at 7:00 a.m. every day -- oatmeal on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; poached eggs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; fried eggs and bacon/sausage on Sunday. Come Monday morning, if Grandma didn't have 2 loads of wash on the line by breakfast time she was sure the neighbors would be talking about us! Oh --- and the laundry had to be hung on the line in a specific order too. Sheets, towels and table clothes (yes, we used them) went on the outside lines, thereby embracing the inner lines where our undies and nightclothes were hung out of view of neighbors' inquisitive eyes. Tuesday was ironing day --- and we ironed everything, including towels, underwear and sheets! It sounds rigid --- it WAS rigid. But in reality, the house ran like a well-oiled engine. We knew exactly what had to be done when and how it was to be done and there was no time wasted arguing about it.

I'll be the first to admit my house is nothing approaching orderly at this particular moment --- clearly a case of the cobbler's kids having no shoes! I tell myself the dogs and birds don't care what a mess it is and I'm not quick to open my door to those who stop by unannounced. However, it DOES affect how I feel about myself and I have already decided next week will be MY week to get organized again.

Organization gives us freedom --- it gives us extra time to do the things that are important to us. Think about it for a moment. You decide you have 45 minutes free and think maybe you'll plant some seeds in the garden. You go looking for your tools --- you need a trowel, your gloves, the packages of seeds, your stake line to mark off the rows, knee pads and a watering can. Wow, the watering can is on top of the workbench. This is going to be easy. Uh-huh! After 10 minutes of searching, you finally find the kneepads in the coat closet (just how did they get there???). The seeds, it turns out, are in the pile of papers on the dining room table where you left them after you opened the mail. The trowel is nowhere to be seen, but you do find your gloves with the the stakes and line on the planting table out back. One moment of brilliance ---- when was it you repotted that begonia? Aha! You finally find the trowel --- in the bag of potting soil. How much time has all this taken? Most likely the entire 45 minutes.

Well, at least you will be ready the NEXT time you have a few minutes. What would I suggest you do now? Go get a bucket or a box and pile all this stuff inside. Put it by the workbench or wherever you would LIKE your gardening tools to live. Next time you will be ready to go. Congratulations. You have just taken the first step towards getting organized!

The main component to getting organized is to break the job down into manageable projects. You didn't get this way overnight and unless you have a full staff of organizers come in to help, you won't get organized overnight. But you CAN get started. And once you have worked your way through a few projects you will get a rhythm going and you will want to continue. Success is a great motivator.

None of this is new. You've heard it 100 times. What is new is working through this process on a daily basis with someone helping you along . . . that someone is ME! I can guarantee you will get more accomplished if you stop by here every day and complete your assignment. As my new client found out, it took only a few hours to get her office organized and cleaned up when I was on-site. Why? Because doing something undesirable WITH someone makes it more fun and easier to accomplish. So, here is your assignment for today.Today's Assignment: Take one stack of papers from your desk and break it down into 3 piles: File, Toss and Action.

File Pile: The file pile should only be things that really need to be kept. Once a bill is paid you can generally toss it. Unless you need it for a specific purpose, there is no reason to keep it. Be vigilant --- this is where most people make mistakes. We are pack rats by nature and it is hard to throw things out after decades of holding onto them. With the advent of today's computerized systems, most major companies can provide you with copies of your bills nearly instantly --- often via the internet. Why clutter your files with copies of them? Note: Did you know that many companies will give you a discount for viewing your bills online instead of having them sent through the U.S. Mail? Check it out. Maybe you don't really need to get all those paper bills after all.

Toss Pile: For obvious reasons this should be your largest pile. Get rid of all the ads, junk mail, fliers, etc., that you have no interest in. If they've been sitting there for a while they are probably outdated anyway! Having said this I must also add that I trust anything of a personal nature that you toss will be SHREDDED. Shredders are reasonably priced these days and with identity theft growing daily, nobody should be putting personal items in the trash without shredding them first.

Action Pile: Your action pile will be things which need your attention: bills to pay, correspondence that needs a response, orders to be placed, etc. You may be amazed at what you find hidden in that one stack. Just remember that getting these items in a folder where you can find them will allow you to deal with things when you find a few spare moments. Not having to look through 20 piles to find a bill that needs to be paid probably means it will be paid on time and you will avoid a late fee --- a small reward for your organizational efforts.

Don't worry about filing the stuff in the File Pile yet. If you happen to already have a file set up for something, fine. If not, just put these things in a folder labeled "Filing" and put it in that clean spot on your desk. If you have the time and feel motivated, go through a couple more piles. But if you only do one pile today --- pat yourself on the back. You've taken the first step on your trip to Organizationville. That journey will reveal much about you and your lifestyle. As they say --- getting there is half the fun, so enjoy the view along the way.

Every year large numbers of bright, intelligent people leave the corporate offices of this country to launch their own businesses. These people are used to having the support of personnel departments, office administrators, executive assistants, accountants, and IT departments. Suddenly they are on their own and their life becomes 3-ring circus which they are trying to juggle 24/7.

When you are starting a business there is no time for organization, administrative work or all the other things which make an office environment run smoothly. Every month is a race to see if you can bring in enough work to pay the bills --- while trying to find new clients. It IS exhilarating, but it is also lonely, frustrating, and most of all --- exhausting!

Cardinal Point Virtual Assistants was organized to span the distance between what you know HOW to do and can do well, and what is left that still needs to be done. My job is to make your life easy. I do this by helping you get organized and by handling all the details that you have no experience or time for. Whether it's travel arrangements, setting up and marketing a seminar, balancing your AMEX account, collecting on overdue invoices, or transcribing dictation and sending out letters --- I get it all done easily and quickly from my own home office.

Some clients require on-site work. Office organization is often where we start. Then, if necessary, I visit once or twice a month to catch them up on filing or help them maintain that organization. Each client's needs are different and my job is to figure out what those needs are and fill the gap.

You don't pay for my sick days, my vacation days, or equipment that will only used a few times a month. In short, you only pay for what you really DO need. And therein lies the sweet spot for you. Whenever you need me, I'm just a phone call or an email away. In general, after so many years in the corporate world, I know how to get things done the first time. And I will make sure things are done in a way which makes you comfortable.

There is one thing you should know about me --- I LOVE my job! It has now been a year since I left the full time corporate environment. I miss the people --- I do NOT miss the rat race. I love helping people do what they do best --- most sole practitioners/small businesses were formed because their owners had a desire to provide a service they felt they did well. By helping these folks get organized and giving them the support they need administratively, their images become more professional and their businesses start to grow. That gives me great satisfaction.

WHO IS KARALYN ECKERLE?

After more than 35 years in the legal field as a legal assistant/paralegal, I decided it was time for a change. To be honest, I was tired of the rat race --- the 1 hour commute twice a day; leaving for work in the dark and returning home in the dark; the filing deadlines; the last minute projects that invariably were missing some important element; breakdowns in communication, etc., etc., etc. (to paraphrase Yul Bryner in The King & I).

In addition to working in the legal field, for several years I ran a nonprofit agency which resettled refugees. More recently I founded Southern California Giant Schnauzer Rescue, which resettles Giants. I am owned by 2 Giant Schnauzers, a Parrolet and an Indian Ringneck. As a published freelance photojournalist, I have traveled extensively and always enjoy meeting new people and exploring new cultures. I am a Mother and proud new grandmother of a beautiful granddaughter. She has wavy red tresses and laughing eyes. What a joy to see our children again in our grandchildren!

In my quiet hours I enjoy beadwork, photography, quilting and gardening. Currently I am attempting to grow everything I eat. Since discovering Earthboxes and the 'Tomato Lady' in Loma Linda, I am once again excited about gardening. What could be better than fresh, sun-warmed heirloom tomatoes and the crunch of home-grown lettuce, cucumbers and hot peppers. Yum.

I am a computer geek, of sorts --- I generally view computer problems as akin to a crossword puzzle. Figuring out a new software program often provides entertainment for an evening or two. I have supervised Word Processing Departments and taught many computer-related classes. I enjoy teaching folks how to get the most out of the programs they need to use.

Got a problem spot in your life that's been bugging you for a while? Give me a call or send me an email and let's chat. And I hope you will grab that daily cup of tea or coffee and drop in here for a few minutes to see what's new. I've got lots of information and ideas to share. You will be amazed at the tools I have available and how they will improve your productivity and state of mind!

Don't be afraid --- make new friends. Try something new. It's good to break out of the routine sometimes! And take a moment to relax and meet some of my favorite friends. Laughing is good for the soul and you'll find more than one laugh in here. Enjoy!

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